ISAF did not state how many insurgents were killed or captured, but the provincial spokesman for Badakhshan told Xinhua that 21 fighters were killed and nine more were captured. Two “group commanders” named Mullah Abadullah and Mullah Shir Mohammad were among those captured. “Roadside bomb making materials and multiple weapons were seized” during the raid, ISAF said in a press release.

The target of the raid was “northern Afghanistan’s senior IMU leader, who facilitates suicide and roadside bomb attacks against Afghan security forces,” ISAF stated. “The leader is a facilitator for IMU insurgents and senior leaders in Kabul and Ghazni, as well as, a coordinator for logistical and personnel movements for fighters throughout northern Afghanistan.”

ISAF and Afghan forces captured the IMU’s previous top commander in Afghanistan during a raid in Kunduz province in April 2011. He served as “a key conduit between the senior IMU leadership in Pakistan and senior Taliban leadership in Afghanistan,” and aided in suicide, IED, and other attacks by the IMU in the north. He was freed from a Pakistani jail in 2010 and immediately returned to lead forces in Afghanistan [see LWJ report, ISAF captures Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan’s top commander for Afghanistan].

Background on terrorist havens in the north

Earlier this year, ISAF identified several locations of safe havens and training camps in the north for the Taliban and the allied Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Both terror groups maintain a strong presence in the northern Afghan provinces of Badakhshan, Baghlan, Balkh, Faryab, Jawzjan, Kunduz, Samangan, Sar-i-Pul, and Takhar, and have established suicide and military training camps in the north over the past several years. As the two groups expand their presence in the region, top leaders of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan have integrated into the Taliban’s shadow government in the northern provinces.

The IMU has established camps in Kunduz province, a Taliban commander from Baghlan named Mustafa told the Asia Times earlier this year. The Taliban commander said that jihadis from Central Asia, including “Chechnya, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Russia,” make up a significant portion of the fighters in the the Afghan north and that they are setting their sights on the neighboring country of Uzbekistan.

“I can tell you that there is an active connection between the Central Asian command and the Taliban in northern Afghanistan and they often join us, but how they connect, this is beyond my level,” Mustafa told Asia Times. “Our superior commanders are in touch with their counterparts in Central Asia and if somebody arrives in Afghanistan or goes to Central Asia from Afghanistan, it is arranged at a senior leadership level.”

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the Islamic Jihad Group, an IMU splinter faction, are also known to operate in the southeastern Afghan provinces of Khost, Paktia, Paktika, Ghazni, and Zabul. The two groups work with the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network [see LWJ report, ISAF detains senior Haqqani Network leader linked to the IMU].

Background on the IMU in Pakistan

The IMU’s leadership cadre is based in Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, and operates primarily along the Afghan-Pakistani border and in northern Afghanistan. According to one estimate, more than 3,000 Uzbeks and other Central Asian fighters are sheltering in North Waziristan.

The US ramped up airstrikes against the terror groups in North Waziristan between September 2010 and January 2011. Many of the strikes targeted cells run by the Islamic Jihad Group, which were plotting to conduct Mumbai-styled terror assaults in Europe. A Sept. 8 strike killed an IJG commander known as Qureshi, who specialized in training Germans to conduct attacks in their home country.

Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan fighters often serve as bodyguards for top Pakistani Taliban and al Qaeda leaders. The IMU fights alongside the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and has stepped up attacks in Central Asian countries as well.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of The Long War Journal.

6 Comments

It’s interesting to me how the tenor of the reports coming out of Afganistan is gradually changing. I try to watch the ISAF NATO Press Releases on a regular basis. It seems to me that the amount of activity (and violence) reported there has decreased significantly over the last 12-18 months. I realize that the Special Forces operations aren’t reported in these Press Releases and they are really a driving factor in the decreased violence, but still things seem to be improving from that (admittedly limited) perspective.
I’m a big fan of Michael Yon, but sometimes I cringe at what I perceive to be his tendency to be overly pessimistic. Given that, I most heartened to read the following from him this morning.

JUST GOT OFF THE PHONE WITH MICHAEL YON, who called from Afghanistan via Satphone. He says that things have turned around and that we

I hear reports on the effectiveness of the ANA ranging from useless to improving. The more positive reports are usually from the Afghan commandos. Is there a realistic, no-spin assessment of the ANA somewhere?

It is probably difficult to get a broad-based assessment on the ANA because few people have experience with many different units? I have heard an idiom that there are no experts on Afghanistan–just experts on Afghan provinces. That same logic might apply to Afghan military units as well. But I, too, would love to see a comprehensive assessment. Long War Journal?

The Taliban said that “the invaders were raiding civilians”, and that “at least 35 invading NATO terrorists along with at least 40 puppets were killed in the mujahideen counter-attack”.
They also said that “2 mujahids were slightly injured in the crossfire but they are alright now”.
They said this exchange took place in Badakhshan and that the U.S. has still not sent medical helicopters to airlift all the dead and wounded so the bodies are just lying there decomposing.

They also said that “a massive remote IED attack from mujahideen on a tank convoy resulted in the deaths of 19 US invaders and the wounding of at least 35 more along with the destruction of 3 tanks”.
They claimed that the convoy of tanks was an attempt to go and attack the area where the previous raid took place. They said that the bodies are all still there, rotting and decomposing and that bugs and animals are starting to eat the dead corpses after they smelled the dead bodies.
Separately, 2 logistical vehicles were also torched in Badakshan, they say, and they kidnapped the 2 drivers from the vehicles and they beheaded one and executed the other by shooting him in the head. And when the “puppet police” came to investigate the situation, “the mujahideen brutally gunned down the 4 police officers which caused them to instantly fall to the ground and perish along with parts of their skull missing from the head shots by mujahideen, at which point the mujahideen seized their weapons and supplies and seized their truck as war booty”.